And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."
And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."
Nothing foreign to him is in its pages, nothing alien to His nature. He is God and man, and this day a scroll, also both divine and human, is placed in his hands.
Isaiah is the author of the lesson Jesus read in Nazareth, but God Himself is the source. The parchment and ink are earthy, but the Word is God's revelation of the Christ who comes in fulfillment of all which was promised.
The man Jesus grasps Holy Scripture. The God Jesus speaks the Word.
To proclaim good news to the poor, He is the good news itself among them. To proclaim liberty to the captives, He is the redeemer come to rescue all. To proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, He is the substance of grace itself.
All Scripture points to Christ, and all Scripture flows with Him. It is His portrait.
In one sweeping declaration transcribed by Isaiah, we are told of Christ's mission and its consequences. We are told about the One whose effect could not be greater. The blind once unable to see the truth of God are enlightened. Those captive to sin are liberated from it power. The time for the announcement of Good News and God's undeserved favor is come.
This text proves God is neither demure nor bashful. He is provocative and bare. He intends to be known. The world is to be given His work, the scope of which is astounding.
God is not provincial or tight, but comprehensive and global in His effect because "the poor," "the captive," "the blind," and "the oppressed" include all of us. The effect of His appearing is world-changing and life-giving.
Christ is breathtaking.
I have to laugh. In our environmentally sensitive age, we are urged to leave as small a footprint in this world as possible. Christ came to do just the opposite. He came to alter the course of life and death for every human being. He is the heaven-sent, spirit-bestowed, deliverance of God Himself to the world.
No one has ever left a more important or necessary footprint in this world.
I was told recently if everyone lived my lifestyle we'd need six earths to accommodate it. Apparently my carbon footprint is disproportionate to the resources of the world.
We've all heard that preaching: buy only what is ecologically friendly, use 100% recycled paper, carpool, turn off lights and peripherals over night, and make use of e-mail as much as possible. Think green.
I say ...
Think red. The color of his bloodly passion.
Think yellow. The color of sunlight to the blind.
Think blue. The color of the heavens obtained for the oppressed.
Think purple. The color royal of the King whose realm is real liberty of mind, body, heart, and soul.
Think white. The color of the robes of righteousness on those no longer poor.
Think and rejoice in the kaleidoscope of blessings which surge to the world because this prophecy of Isaiah has been fulfilled. God's footprint has been placed on the earth.
I'm not against conservation. There is much of "green" thinking which is just plain common sense. Indeed, if we should go into really severe times, recycling will be necessary. (It used to be called wearing hand-me-downs and using mason jars.) A few old-timers tell stories of bathing an entire family on one drawing of bathwater which sounds more than just ecologically friendly.
But if leaving no footprint means we best serve the world by leaving nothing behind, nothing that is not degradable, nothing that indicates we were here, what a shame. And more the shame if our conservation somehow implies we are the saviors of the world. We aren't! Christ is.
If the most caring act we can do for this world is to keep from using it and leave behind only the carbon molecules of our bodies to fertilize the next generation, then we have missed our Christian calling.
The aim of believers in Christ is to leave as big a footprint as possible in the world, not one obviously of waste dumps, deforestation, and inveterate consumption, but of influencing the world through the Word of Christ, to make a real difference.
That's why Christ came.
He didn't leave any carbon footprint at all! He didn't even leave the molecules of his body behind because He rose from the dead and ascended bodily into heaven.
Yet his body is here. It is the church. It is you and I who make the footprint of Christ wherever we go. In the midst of the church is Christ today just as surely as Christ was in the midst of the congregation at Nazareth.
We want to leave the traces of Christ behind us, the evidence that God was in the world, the marks of His holy visitation in the baptism we celebrate and the communion we share. We mean to speak with His tongue, serve with His heart, and walk in His shadow.
Leave His footprint wherever you go. Proclaim Good News. Live in the liberty of your sins forgiven. Use the seeing eyes God has given you to find others His cross has freed, and echo the decree of God's favor as you love and forgive in His Name.
Christ made colossal footprints. Stand in them, and walk.
